Alive
by lightningcanoe
Summary: In Rosewood, it seems as if once one mystery is solved, another is waiting behind it. The mystery our young heroines are currently faced with is how a certain young woman is alive, where she's been, and what her relationship is with Spencer's boyfriend.


A/N Okay so I know I've got half projects all over the place (Two Hearts and Holidays) but this inspiration hit me hard. Idk if I'll continue it but let me know if you think I should.

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At the Hastings household, four girls heard a knock at the door. Now normally this wouldn't be a strange occurance, but it was almost 11PM, and this person was knocking on the back door. The girls looked at each other before Spencer rose to answer the door.

As she opened the door her mouth dropped. Hanna, Emily, and especially little Aria couldn't see who was at the door past Spencer's tall, still frame "You... you're..." was all Spencer could manage. "I know," the voice made Emily's head snap up. "Can't be..." she muttered to herself. "Spence... who is it?" Aria asked curiously, craning her neck to try to see who was in the doorway. Spencer didn't answer, she just stepped aside to reveal Maya St. Germaine.

This was a new definition of silent. All four girls had their eyes fixed on Maya, which was understandable, but coupled with the blanket of absolute silence that covered the room, it was still making Maya a bit more uncomfortable than she thought she would be. She stepped into the room and closed the door behind her.

She knew they were taking it all in, her appearance: the scars on her neck and arms, how thin she looked, the emptiness in her eyes. She wondered which question would come first, who would speak first. Spencer did. "But you're dead," she stated bluntly. "I've heard," Maya replied. Emily, who was still staring at the girl with furrowed eyebrows, was up in a flash. She embraced the girl fiercly, leaving no space between them and pushing them against the door. The room was almost silent again, save for Emily's quiet sobs, as the two girls hugged.

After a couple of minutes, Spencer spoke again. "Where... where have you...?" Maya sighed as she pulled herself away from Emily, but still clutched her hand firmly as her girlfriend continued to cry softly. "For a couple of weeks I was backpacking through the forests around here, but then I went to stay with my brother in New York," she explained. "Why didn't you call?" Emily asked. "I couldn't call, Em. Your phone is tapped. All of your phones are tapped. I wasn't supposed to talk to any of you. I definitely wasn't supposed to come back. I'm not even supposed to be alive. A said-" Spencer cut her off mid-sentence, "You know about A?" she asked, shellshocked. Maya nodded, "Yeah, I know about A. I know about everything," she said coldly.

"How?" Aria finally said something. "I got worried about Emily. The way she got scared every time her phone went off... it wasn't normal. I tried to get her to talk but she wouldn't tell me what was going on. So I went snooping." Maya explained. "And I got myself into some major trouble." Maya shuddered horribly, remembering what she had been through in the past couple of months.

"But wait-" Hanna spoke for the first time, but was cut off by a knock at the door. Emily and Maya moved to the side allowing Spencer to open it. Toby Cavanaugh was standing there with a book in his hand. Maya released Emily's hand and stumbled backwards. "Stay the fuck away from me," she warned.

"Maya?" Toby said, stepping through the door, "I thought you were-" Maya bolted, unlocking and opening the kitchen door and slipping out before anyone could register what was happening. "Maya!" Emily called, confusion written all over her face. "I got her," Toby said, taking off out the door after her.

The woods were dark, but Maya didn't care. She ran as fast as her legs could take her. She heard footsteps coming after her and ran faster, not watching where she was going. Her foot caught on a root, and she went down into the cold creek. She quickly tried to get up, but two strong hands grabbed her shirt and pushed her back into the water, the back of her head slamming against something hard.

Maya started to panic, not having enough oxygen in her system, but the hands lifted her out of the water and onto her feet without letting go of her shirt. "I told you to never come back!" Toby hissed. Maya, still spluttering and trying to regain her her breath, somehow managed to speak. "They may not know who you are Toby, but I do." Toby chuckled darkly, "You tell them and you're dead." Maya shook her head, "I've been dead for months, remember? Wait until Spencer finds out." A strange look crossed Toby's face, a sort of confusion, and Maya took her chance to escape his grip, pushing off of him and stumbling backwards. Toby snapped out of whatever thoughts that had consumed him the moment before. "You have a couple of secrets too, Maya. You were one of us at one point," he said, stepping towards her.

"You know I was protecting Emily," she said firmly. "Like she's gonna believe that." Toby taunted sarcastically. "Yes, she is. Because I'm going to tell her myself. I'm going to tell her everything," she said. Toby shook his head, "No you're not." He lunged for her but she dodged and took off again, in the direction she came. Toby cursed under his breath and took off after her again.

It was a race. Maya had the speed but Toby most likely knew the woods better. She somehow managed to make it back to Spencer's, locking the door behind her. She quickly glanced around the room; by a miracle she had made it back to the house before him. "Maya!" Emily said standing up from the couch. "Where's Toby?" Spencer asked, looking upset and confused. Maya wasted no time, "Toby is A. Well one of the As, there's more than one. I- I pretended to join them. Thought I could take them down from the inside or at least find out who their leader was, y'know. I wanted to help put a stop to all this. He and Mona found out and that's the reason I went missing and why everybody thinks that I'm dead. They had been torturing me for weeks before he let me go. He said if I never came back here, if I never spoke to anyone in this town ever again, It would be over for me." Spencer shook her head, "You're lying." she said firmly. Maya threw her an incredulous look, "Spencer, why would I lie?" Spencer was at a loss for words. She sat down on the couch, with her hand covering her mouth. Maya stepped closer to her, I'm sorry Spencer, he's working with A."

Maya's words hit home with the field hockey player; she started to cry. The other girls were in shock. The boy they knew as Spencer's sweet and caring boyfriend had betrayed them all. He kidnapped their friend. He may have killed someone. Spencer was sobbing, horrible, heartbroken sobs, and shaking violently. She didn't want to believe what she had just heard but she knew Maya had no reason to lie to her.

Maya cleared her throat, "We have to-" her words were cut off by a knock at the back door again. Emily, Hanna, and Aria quickly scrambled to their feet, backing away from the door. Spencer stayed where she was. "Spencer, did Maya come back here?" Toby said, knocking again. He sounded genuinely concerned, like he actually cared about her. "Spencer, if she's in there we need to get her to the hospital, she fell in the creek and hit her head pretty hard," he said, knocking again. Spencer looked up at Maya, who shook her head at her slightly. "Spencer, c'mon," Spencer stood up from the couch and went over to the door. "I know who you are Toby," she said strongly, "And I never want to see your face again." "Spencer, whatever Maya told you isn't true. She hit her head and doesn't know what she's talking about," He said. "Leave, Toby." Spencer said, starting to walk away from the door. "Spencer-" "I said leave!" she shrieked, startling everyone in the room and most likely Toby too.

As all five girls heard Toby's truck roar to life and drive away, Spencer slid to the floor and started crying again. Aria went over to her and let her cry into her shoulder. Maya, who was now standing next to a softly crying Emily, took the swimmer's hand and squeezed it. There was silence in the room for the next few minutes until Maya whimpered quietly, making Emily look at her. She was still soaking wet.

"Come on, let's go get you some dry clothes," Emily said, wiping her tears. She took her hand and lead her upstairs to Spencer's bedroom. After locking the door, Emily went over to Spencer's dresser and pulled out some sweatpants and a t-shirt. "Here, put these on. She won't mind." Emily said, handing Maya the clothes. Maya took them from her hands and looked at them for a minute and then looked back up at Emily. "Um, could you not look?" she asked quietly. Emily furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, but obeyed with an "Um, okay."

After about a minute had passed, Emily decided to take a peak. Maya had turned around too for some reason. She was in the process of taking off her shirt, exposing the skin of her back and waist. As Emily watched, she couldn't stop the gasp that escaped her lips when she saw the scars running up and down the back of the girl she loved. Maya turned around at the low sound, "I told you not to look!" she said, only making eye contact with Emily for a second. "Sorry. Maya..." Emily reached out to touch her, but the shorter girl backed away. It didn't matter to Emily though, she kept pursuing her until she had a hold of her wrist. "Em, no," Maya said, trying to pull away from the swimmer. Emily only pulled her closer, wrapping her arms around Maya's waist and pulling her close to her. Maya was still looking away. "Don't look..." she said again. "Maya, please look at me," Emily asked softy. Maya did as she asked, looking up at the taller girl. Emily stared at her for a moment, but then leaned down and did what she had been aching to do since Maya walked through Spencer's door.

The kiss started off slowly as Emily softly connected their lips. She moved closer to the shorter girl after a moment, applying even more pressure to Maya's lips. Maya wrapped her hand around the back of Emily's neck and tilted her head so that she could taste Emily more fully. The kiss was building in speed and intensity, with Emily moving her hands so that they were tangled in Maya's wet hair and Maya moving her hands to Emily's hips to pull her closer, until Maya pulled away.

"How can you still want me?" Maya muttered, not looking at Emily again. "What are you talking about?" Emily asked her, moving her hands from Maya's dark hair to her cheeks, making the girl look up at her. "My scars..." "Maya, I will never not want you." Emily said, stroking her cheek and the edge of her mouth, where a small scar resided. "But..." Maya tried to say, but was cut off by Emily, "You're beautiful Maya." Maya was silent for a moment. "We should get back downstairs."

Emily released her and watched the girl slide the previously discarded shirt over her head and onto her torso and smooth it out. Maya looked up at Emily for a moment before looking away again. Maya never had body image issues, she was never insecure, but now she was holding her scarred arms and staring at the floor. Emily's hands balled into fists, what had A- no, what had_ Toby_ done to her?

Just then, Maya's phone vibrated from her wet jeans pocket. She fished it out and turned it on, it was a text. The bottom half of the screen was black from water damage but she could still read the anonymous text she had just received.

"_Dumb move St. Germaine. If you weren't at the top of my list before, you definitely are now. -A_"

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A/N Feedback is a MUST on this story guys! Should I continue it? No? Any constructive criticism? Review Review!


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